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Peaceful Protests Preferredby Wayne Boettcher The stream of invective and cursing blew like a foul wind around me as a peace-loving Buddhist screamed and gestured threateningly, his face inches from mine as he deliberately tried to get me into a fistfight. The statement that my mother should have aborted me was mild compared to most of the extreme language proffered by the "anti-war" activist who appears regularly on Wednesday mornings at the Recruiting Center on Speedway. The recent incident wasn't the first time I had been cursed out by an angry peacenik, though, and my mother's Christian training allowed me to turn the other cheek when he spit in my face. I read with amusement "anti-war" activist Gretchen Nielsen's guest opinion accusing counter-protesters of violence that was published on September 13, 2007 in the alternative newspaper Tucson Weekly. She quoted a counter-protester from a Tucson Citizen column who admitted blocking protest signs with flags so I sure she won't mind if I quote her 2004 guest editorial from the Arizona Daily Star as saying in the past she refused medication from her therapist, got what she asked for and went out of her mind! In a more recent letter to the same newspaper, Nielsen said military moms need a psychiatrist for being proud of their children. Based on that statement, I think she should go back into therapy. I have supported the troops and their missions for many years. Yet I have also opposed some military actions. For instance, I was against America invading Haiti and installing a Communist dictator there. Yet I didn't run to the sidewalk outside a military base, recruiting center or hospital to show our Armed Forces some flag-draped cardboard coffins and hold up signs falsely accusing them of atrocities. Instead I wrote my Congressman, Senator and the Administration expressing my opinion on foreign policy. That didn't work so I had to accept the fact of Haiti's invasion by the USA. History proved I was right to oppose our policy there when the dictator was thrown out years later. It's not so clear that we are doing the wrong thing in Iraq. Saddam Hussein's financial support of terrorism was in the open and he also harbored terrorists like the Abu Nidal Organization. Iraq attacked our planes preventing Hussein's planned genocide of the Kurds; the outlaw nation was known to have used nerve gas on Kurdish villages in the past. I believe the high ranking Iraqi officials who said Iraq's WMD were moved to Syria. And no one doubts that Iraq invaded Kuwait and constantly threatened other allies like Israel, Jordan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. After we kicked Iraq out of Kuwait they broke almost every agreement they signed, including the return of Kuwaiti POWs. They all simply disappeared like many innocent civilians did in Iraq. And contrary to Haiti's invasion that resulted in oppression of the people, in Iraq the people are free. We can argue the reasons for invading Iraq, but any intelligent person can understand them. The correct way to protest government policy is still contacting your representatives or news media to express your opinion as a citizen. If enough people agree with you, you can change policy. And it's certainly proper to protest outside a Congressional, Senatorial or Administration office. But radical "anti-war" groups like Code Pink, International ANSWER, Communist Party USA and Revolutionary Communist Party protest outside military facilities for a different reason. It's not to change government policy by normal means, but to propagandize and demoralize our troops and the American people. They openly admit they are engaged in "counter-recruitment" of the military. Sometimes they go even farther. A national leader of Code Pink, Susan "Medea" Benjamin, personally facilitated a $600,000 "donation" of supplies and cash to the "other side" in Fallujuh, Iraq shortly before the famous battle in 2004 where some brave Marines were killed. At least one of the Marines who died in that battle was from Tucson, in fact his father is the one quoted as blocking protest signs with American and Military flags in the Tucson Citizen. This Gold Star dad has also verbally insulted and cursed protesters, which he regrets. I don't agree with that conduct, don't engage in it and ask others supporting the troops not to act that way, yet I understand the rage of troop supporting military family members and veterans far more than the "Raging Grannies" who join with Code Pink to protest outside military facilities. I find it hypocritical that Gretchen Nielsen, who deliberately got arrested blocking the driveway of a defense plant, complains about others blocking protest signs with flags. It's obvious she believes in blocking things at protests, even to the point of civil disobedience! I can't always get to the Wednesday morning troop support rally / protest at 2302 Speedway here in Tucson, Arizona, but I keep apprised as to what is happening there. A cursing, yelling peace advocate that recently attacked a military mom and smashed her camera accepted anger management sessions in a plea bargain, apologized and paid for the damage; he is indeed not a regular. Neither was the Pro-American woman who tried to get Gretchen Nielsen's sign in the incident she mentioned. In fact, a troop supporter pulled her away. In the past a radical protest leader has also pulled away an "anti-war" advocate who was physically trying to seize or destroy my sign at a political event. It's difficult sometimes for certain people seeing opposing signs for the first time to realize we all have free speech here in America. However, for the most part the people on both sides of these protests and troop rallies are peaceful. Not so the self-declared ex-Marine Nielsen calls a "hero" in her column; he recently attacked a Blue Star Vietnam Veteran father with two Marine sons. Without warning, the peace protester hit the troop supporter with his sign and then leaped on him when he went down. The only other close witness interviewed by the police, Gretchen Nielson herself, must have supported the cursing, spitting, attacking protester in her statement since the officers let him go with a warning. How ironic, considering her recent editorial disparaging the police for not taking action against violence at protests. Troop supporters should not be daunted by these few incidents. Physical altercations at protests and counter-protests are in fact rare, but incidents get written up frequently because they're exciting. It's also possible to stay completely away from the other side and from arguments that can escalate. Simply move down the street and ignore people from the other side that wish to debate you. Lots of people do that on both sides. They're just there to hold a sign, and there's nothing wrong with that. In fact I encourage everyone to support our troops by doing so at any opportunity that presents itself. If our brave men and women of the military can hold a rifle to support our freedom, we can at least hold a sign to support their actions! Wayne Boettcher is the head of AmericanProtest.net Related Links: |
